daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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But we talked about it, and wrote it down....That is not a risk mitigation strategy...
My ”non-operational” sailing on the west coast came far closer to killing me (twice) than any of the named Ops that I did…just sayin…My non-operational sailing was probably more 'exciting' compared to the operational tour, but probably varies by department/trade. If I was an operator I'd want to do as much HR as possible. As an MSE type the operations were the break and recharge time after being driven into the ground in the preceeding year up to it, and honestly it was kind of boring at times to just have everything working and available, with proper support when it broke (unless the coast was being stupid and telling us we didn't need equipment essential to what we were doing, because they weren't reading our actual mission updates and thought were were doing rounds of cocktail parties in friendly waters).
FG included a few missile shoots, a lot of gunnery shoots, operating with fast air and submarines etc. Conversely spent weeks on the NATO just patrolling a box in the Med/Black sea and doing some very basic TG things with some allies. Could have been more exiting, but we had no ROEs to do boardings, and doing 'intelligence gathering' as a ship is interesting to about 10 people onboard and just tedium for the other 240.
Can't be worse than MAPLE RESOLVEs followed by "MAPLE RESOLVE but in Latvia" for an entire career...I can't imagine doing nothing but RIMPACs and Force Generation sails my entire career. What a boring existence.
This is literally what we are paid to do: drill and practice.Can't be worse than MAPLE RESOLVEs followed by "MAPLE RESOLVE but in Latvia" for an entire career...
Yup.Consider yourself lucky if you go an entire career without going hot…
Half the Ship's Company generally has no idea where we are or what we are doing WRT operations.My non-operational sailing was probably more 'exciting' compared to the operational tour, but probably varies by department/trade. If I was an operator I'd want to do as much HR as possible. As an MSE type the operations were the break and recharge time after being driven into the ground in the preceeding year up to it, and honestly it was kind of boring at times to just have everything working and available, with proper support when it broke (unless the coast was being stupid and telling us we didn't need equipment essential to what we were doing, because they weren't reading our actual mission updates and thought were were doing rounds of cocktail parties in friendly waters).
FG included a few missile shoots, a lot of gunnery shoots, operating with fast air and submarines etc. Conversely spent weeks on the NATO just patrolling a box in the Med/Black sea and doing some very basic TG things with some allies. Could have been more exiting, but we had no ROEs to do boardings, and doing 'intelligence gathering' as a ship is interesting to about 10 people onboard and just tedium for the other 240.
It's still boringThis is literally what we are paid to do: drill and practice.
Consider yourself lucky if you go an entire career without going hot…
Meh. The Iranians gave me waaay less grief than the Omanis.Half the Ship's Company generally has no idea where we are or what we are doing WRT operations.
It's still boring
Running in to Iranians was way better
Hey, it was taco Tuesday, and two for 1 margaritas at the hotel, of course they won't be on station? It's called operational planning, you plan around all the specials at the hotel. Wednesday is meat loaf night? Yep let's go on patrolMeh. The Iranians gave me waaay less grief than the Omanis.
Op Apollo joke: You know what the difference is between an Iranian P3 and a Canadian Aurora?
The Iranian P3 can be counted upon to show up on station everyday….
I'm convinced that Kuwaiti local ATC was more of a threat than Daesh.Meh. The Iranians gave me waaay less grief than the Omanis.
Op Apollo joke: You know what the difference is between an Iranian P3 and a Canadian Aurora?
The Iranian P3 can be counted upon to show up on station everyday….
We were supposed to have an Aurora flyby during a CoC during Op Apollo. I’m sure the Iranians had theirs on standby. Just in case.Meh. The Iranians gave me waaay less grief than the Omanis.
Op Apollo joke: You know what the difference is between an Iranian P3 and a Canadian Aurora?
The Iranian P3 can be counted upon to show up on station everyday….
That is 100% true and I hate it. So I always do my darndest to try and inform them as much as possible of what we're doing, either as part of the job or just in casual conversation.Half the Ship's Company generally has no idea where we are or what we are doing WRT operations.
I had the opposite experience. The Omanis were great! The Iranians would hails us and ask us questions non-stop during the entirety of our Hormuz transit, questions they knew we couldn't answer, but they clogged up the air waves anyway. On our third transit through, the Omani coast guard came on and essentially told the Iranians to shut up, leave us alone, and get the fuck off the channel.Meh. The Iranians gave me waaay less grief than the Omanis.
On my last deployment we had a large map put up on the wall next to the galley, so the crew would walk by it at least thrice a day, and it showed where the ship was, where it was going next, along with blurbs and pictures describing our current operations.
“Keep your followers informed of the mission, the changing situation and the overall picture.”On my last deployment we had a large map put up on the wall next to the galley, so the crew would walk by it at least thrice a day, and it showed where the ship was, where it was going next, along with blurbs and pictures describing our current operations.
HUMINT suggests it was greatly appreciated.
They probably would have, just for a lark.We were supposed to have an Aurora flyby during a CoC during Op Apollo. I’m sure the Iranians had theirs on standby. Just in case.
I've sewn similar things done on ships, and it was always appreciated by the crew.On my last deployment we had a large map put up on the wall next to the galley, so the crew would walk by it at least thrice a day, and it showed where the ship was, where it was going next, along with blurbs and pictures describing our current operations.
HUMINT suggests it was greatly appreciated.
I like the monitor outside the swain's office (or a similar high traffic spot) with a ppt rotating through the mission update and other announcements. It's a great, cheap and easy way to spread some info.I've sewn similar things done on ships, and it was always appreciated by the crew.
For many occupations sailing in the South China Sea is no different than sailing in the West Coast Firing Area... As a Met Tech my job was 100% real every time we were underway, regardless of whether the helo was flying for an exercise or an operation.
Getting the bigger picture through pipes, and a map on the bulkhead makes a difference.
Like this?The Iranians would hails us and ask us questions non-stop during the entirety of our Hormuz transit, questions they knew we couldn't answer, but they clogged up the air waves anyway.